One year ago today: July 13, 2018, it’s a ½” to an engineer.
Five years ago today: July 13, 2014, remember line of position?
Nine years ago today: July 13, 2010, guidance: inertial vs. divine.
Random years ago today: July 13, 2016, aw, the duckies.
I think I found the reason for the slow drainage with the bathroom sink. Indeed, it was a negative slope so in 70 years, it was lucky to have any flow at all. Squint, you’ll see daylight at the other end. This was tons of fun, cutting away the old pipe, and every inch of it was full of this crud. So you got the dust, the sparks, the sweat, and whenever the blade poked through, the lovely aroma of this material all heated up. The hurricane on the gulf made it cool enough to string out the chain saw and clean up the pile of branches left by the trim crew last week. I had to change the blade, and for one, a 14” replacement chain actually fit a 14” blade. More likely these days, that was two screw-ups that miraculously cancelled each other out.
It’s nice to work with good tools and you need a lot of them in this kind of situation. No one saw, or blade for that matter, will work in every spot on a job like this. I need a new carbide cutter but I’ve nicely forgotten where I put that oddball wrench needed to remove the old one. Some possible good news is the pipe. When I got far enough under the building, the pipe is corroded only on the outer surface. As the cut proceeded I saw a good 3/16” of shiny, solid metal. If the clamping union works, I just saved myself the one spot I was willing to pay a plumber.
Alaine called and the trip to the circus exhibit is proving popular. I have not even checked if it is still open, or the admission. If everybody shows up, it will be a group of eight. I suggested if she wanted to invite Becca, who cannot walk yet, I’m fully capable of pushing a wheelchair or whatever wimps call them these days. I have no doubt this will be the big event of the summer. For some reason they all said they want to eat at the place, not go somewhere fancy (as is the usual for us). Do they even have food there? If so, is it hotdogs and popcorn? That excursion is only either two or three weeks from now. They’ve asked to find a day it isn’t too touristy. I don’t know. The only time I’ve been in Sarasota was to buy the sidecar.
Honey lime fruit salad.
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I cut away the old joists, shown here to give you an idea of the old rot. This wood wasn’t supporting anything anyway, except maybe a couple of termite colonies recently. The new foundation has double beams under the bathroom floor. I should have to replace only two joists. But those are among the worst things to work with on an existing structure. Remind me to take pictures of this, since I’ve been questioned about this work, as I whether I did it myself. The bathroom will have the strongest floor section yet, keeping in mind I have not tackled the kitchen. Hey, now that I’ve got experience, sit back and watch me.
So I’ve been mixing in other ingredients already. When they snuffle at their food, you know they are hungry and that leaves only appetite. They want something that tastes like food. Those dry pellets are good, but you see, dogs are smarter than humans who eat genetically modified food. I’ve seen the on-line videos where dogs will chose natural food over enhanced food every time. That says it all, Monsanto. And Cargill. Quit screwing with our food just because you can. I’m not the only one who notices hotdogs made from chicken or turkey or pork or beef all taste the same, or pretty much so.
I put in a six hour day and that’s enough. Most of it was crawling in and out of the pit to get tools and things as the work progressed. The old floor is gone and all the new drainage system is already in position under the house for over a year now. The gluing and cutting remain. I should have that together in no time. It will have a positive slope, but not as much as the code people want. Hey, it’s an improvement over what was there and that’s all I got to say. For now.
ADDENDUM
In music, one of the few periods in my life I didn’t play for at least a year was just when ZZ Top was coming out with their best material. I liked it and could play the riffs in my brain, but you know, most of it sounded alike to me. Probably because it is. I grabbed the tabs because this music is not good enough for me to learn by ear. Doing so reminded me there are so many different ears. All the bass tabs for ZZ Top were written by mediocre bassists, likely converted guitarists. I know when I was starting out what I heard and what a contrast that is to getting the sounds. I play all the different tunes without the need for any distortion pedals. I’ve learned how to coax the most of the popular tones out of the instrument by touch.
It makes it funny in a way to see how the others are hearing what they want to hear. Listen to “La Grange”. The bass in the third and last part is not the same riff as the beginning of the song. Yet, every professionally rated tab shows it so. I remind the reader I am over-documenting the music developments as always. There are no other records kept of the process and I have rock-solid reasons for keeping things undiluted over time. This may be the only part of my history that endures. I’m going the extra distance to get all the bass lines up to studio quality. I could slough off, but why? You see, this time I’m not hired by or answerable to a guitarist.
In the past, and that includes recent past, I’ve had to prove at my own effort to guitar players that the song really does go a certain way. (This reverse burden of proof is only possible if the guitarist has some sway.) They may want it done the way their last bass player did it, but if so, I’m usually just as gone. That situation means I’m with some write-off who doesn’t know value when he hears it. Tell ‘em, Glen. I doubt that could happen in this new group, the people seemed happy with my set. The opinion I value most is the manager, not the other musicians. If we back up Taylor Swift, that could change. Meanwhile, I play it like Mozart would, with smatterings of Beethoven.
The exertions of the day had me sitting down for an hour’s recuperation, so I took out the tab to Charlie Daniel’s “Devil Went Down To Georgia”. The bass line is too well known to fudge, so I merged the three best versions in my collection. All were wrong by not much. With such music, it’s the little things that count and try as I might, I can only get to the piano part during the Devil’s solo. I quickly picked out the notes on the keyboard, but playing the same notes on the bass sounded off. What am I up against? Some recording trick? Drop tuning on a bass? By default, I will play the piano riff because I know it is right, but almost impossible on bass. Not the notes, but the inflection. To get to the right position, you must leave a dead spot while your hand moves. How does he do it? With anybody else I’d guess either an overdub or a second bass player, but not Charlie Daniels.
